Social Media Information
Administering Social Media Sites
Introduction
Winthrop University encourages the leveraging of social media tools to help deliver
our messages effectively to a variety of users. To achieve this, each department or
university unit must have a plan for administering the social media sites it uses.
All institutional pages must have a full-time person designated as being responsible
for the maintenance of the site (this should be the head of the department or her/his
designee, not a transient participant such as a student). Departments and units should
consider their messages, audiences, and goals when designing social media sites, as
well as a strategy for keeping information on these sites up-to-date.
Guidelines for Administering Social Media Sites
This document outlines the responsibilities of those posting to social media sites
on behalf of the university and the responsibilities of managers who supervise such
sites.
Posting on Winthrop's Behalf
- Understand your responsibilities. If you participate in or maintain a social media site on behalf of the university,
clearly recognize your role and goals. Discuss with your supervisor when you are empowered
to respond directly to users and when you may need approval. Employees posting on
behalf of Winthrop athletics should be especially careful to comply with guidelines
set by the NCAA and the Big South Conference; consult the Athletic Department's Assistant Athletic Director for Communications for specific questions in this area.
- Maintain a consistent presence. If you have been authorized by your supervisor to create an official Winthrop social
media site or a video for posting in locations such as YouTube, please contact University Communications and Marketing for an approved logo and other images and to ensure coordination with other Winthrop
sites and content.
- Protect the institutional voice. Posts on social media sites should protect the university's institutional voice by
remaining professional in tone and in good taste. No individual Winthrop unit's social
media site represents the university as a whole. Consider this when naming pages or
accounts, selecting a profile picture or icon, and selecting content to post.
- Follow state laws and policies. If questions arise that may fall under this category, refer the matter to your supervisor
or to an appropriate University official.
- Protect confidential and proprietary information. Do not post confidential or proprietary information about Winthrop University students,
employees, or alumni. Employees must follow applicable federal requirements such as
FERPA and HIPA as well as appropriate conference and NCAA guidelines. Adhere to all
applicable university privacy and confidentiality policies.
- Be respectful. As a Winthrop representative, you should model the university's commitment to respect
for the dignity of others and to the civil and thoughtful discussion of opposing ideas.
Content contributed to a social media site sometimes encourages comments or discussion
of opposing ideas. Responses should be considered carefully in light of how they will
reflect on the poster and/or the university and its institutional voice.
- Be thoughtful. A presence in the social media world is or easily can be made available to the public
at large. This includes prospective students, current students, current employers
and colleagues, donors, community members, and peers. Consider this before posting
to be sure your message will not alienate, harm, or provoke any of these groups. If
you have any questions about whether a subject or particular language is appropriate
to post, ask your department head, supervisor, or advisor before you post.
- Make accommodations for users who cannot employ particular forms of social media. Some users may have been prohibited from using certain social media sites because
of parental objection, violations of site policies, or other reasons. Be sensitive
to such situations and, where appropriate, offer alternate ways for such users to
communicate with your department or program.
- Respect the ownership of intellectual property. Many students, faculty, and staff share their work through social media. So that
individual users' intellectual property rights are respected and the Winthrop Intellectual Property Policy is followed, obtain and document appropriate consent for posted content, including
(but not limited to) words, graphics, photos, video, audio, images, PowerPoint presentations,
artwork, and any other included elements.
- Know the rules. Become familiar with the terms of service and policies of sites and networks in which
you participate. Pay attention to updates, especially those that change a site's privacy
settings. Discuss any concerns with your supervisor.
Site Supervision on Winthrop's Behalf
If your department or unit decides to use social media to reach your audiences, be
aware that you are committing resources and time, the amount depending on the popularity
of your content and the community size. Users will expect prompt (though not necessarily
immediate) responses to their postings, so you must plan for how your personnel will
meet those needs and recognize the time and effort it will take to do so. Winthrop
University employees who supervise official Winthrop social media sites should:
- Identify a small team to maintain the site so there is no potential single point of failure for being able
to manage information in a timely manner. Choose a team of people you trust to monitor
your department or unit's social media presences, provide content and responses, and
respond to site management issues. The team can check the site periodically during
the day, so no one employee needs to be online constantly.
- Establish standard operating procedures to monitor, post content for, and engage with your visitors. Review with your team
what you expect of them in common situations (for instance, maintaining a consistent
voice, removing posts, referring posts to other offices, etc.).
- Use appropriate tools for managing sites. Software is available that will broadcast a post simultaneously to several sites
(e.g. Twitter, Facebook), as well as tools that will allow several users to post for
the same account through password-protected software.
- Register your site with the Winthrop Social Media Directory so potential users can find it quickly. Register an official Winthrop site. This information also helps the university disseminate important information to
the administrators of sites, as well as ensuring that sites do not become "orphaned"
when a site administrator leaves Winthrop.
- Establish coverage policies for periods when staff is not in the office (for instance sick leave, nights, weekends,
holiday breaks) or when team members are not in the office (for instance, on recruiting
trips or at professional meetings). Many social media tools can be accessed through
personal mobile devices; therefore, a staff member may be able to be "on call" for
the site without being physically present on the Winthrop campus, if such coverage
is warranted.
- Assess your social media presence periodically to ensure that it continues to meet your department or unit's goals and objectives
and that it serves the needs of your specific audiences. Periodically, you may wish
to commission surveys of your audience(s) to see if your social media site is meeting
their needs or to use many of the analytic tools provided by social media sites to
make sure your effort is paying off.
- Don't remove content or take a page offline unless there is a specific violation of Winthrop policies or your published rules
warranting removal. Organizations who remove content simply because that content is
unflattering lose the trust of their audience and risk public backlash. Always explain
the rationale for altering or removing content on a site to maintain transparency
and retain the trust of your site users.
The following sample language might be posted on your site to inform users of your
policies:
By posting any comments, links, or other material on this Winthrop University social
media site, you agree that you will not:
- Post material that infringes on the rights of any third party, including intellectual
property, privacy, or publicity right.
- Post material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive,
slanderous, hateful, or embarrassing to any other person or entity as determined by
Winthrop in its sole discretion, or which violates posted Winthrop University policies.
The site administrators will remove such material promptly.
- Post the same note more than once ("spam").
- Post chain letters or pyramid schemes.
- Impersonate another person.
- Allow any other person or entity to use your identification, Winthrop UserID, or Winthrop
password for posting or viewing comments.
If you have any questions about this site, please send a message to the site administrators.
Sources
Portions of this document have been adopted from the following sources:
Baird, Derek E. "Social Identity, Knowledge Management, and Member Roles in Online
Communities." Barking Robot. 6 October 2010.
Ball State University. "Ball State University Social Media Policy." 17 November 2009.
http://cms.bsu.edu/-/media/www/departmentalcontent/library/copyright/pdfs
/ballstate_socialmediapolicy.ashx
DePaul University. "Social Media Guidelines." 2006. http://brandresources.depaul.edu/vendor_guidelines/g_recommendation.aspx.
Lawrence, Keith. "Duke University Social Media Policy. E-mail to the CNAC-L Discussion
List. 19 October 2010.
Navy Command Social Media Handbook. November 2010. No longer publicly available.
Site last updated by Kimberly Byrd 10/17/11.
